Is this normal?

[Hybridchucks]

atre all your hens RIRs?

 

[Hybridchucks]

*are

 

[DuckPro]

Nothing to worry about, lots of my chickens have them too, it's just leg colour.

 

[cow whisperer]

No, I also have Buff Orpington hens. Also a RIR rooster, a BO rooster and an Easter egger cross ( not sure if it's a roo or a hen).

 

[getaclue]

Are the scales, on the one with extra orange legs, raised? Possible start of leg mites? While you show long distance pics of your chickens, there is nothing close up of the legs. From the pics, they all look normal.

 

[AllynTal]

One of the standards that breeders breed for is the color of the legs. The Standard of Perfection put out by the APA describes in very specific detail what every aspect of each breed is supposed to look like from the color and shape of the comb, the coloring of the feathers on each part of the body, the shape of the tail, the body shape and size, et al. One of the standards is the color of the legs. It takes very careful breeding to produce chickens that are even close to the SoP and even if the parents are close to SoP, that doesn't mean all their offspring will be. If you were breeding show birds, adherence to SoP would be crucial.

Most backyard chicken owners aren't SoP savvy and they really don't care. The producers of chickens meant for the backyard flock just put a rooster with a hen of a certain breed and sell the offspring. As a result, you end up with chickens of the same breed that have different color legs, or the coloring on the feathers is a little different, or the body shape is a little different. For a backyard flock that will never see a show ring, it's perfectly okay if the chickens aren't SoP.

So yes, it is fine that your chickens have different color legs. There is nothing wrong with any of them.

 

[cow whisperer]

Okay. Thank you all for the information. I really appreciate it.

 

[MageofMist]

I have Chinese painted quail with "carrot legs" as I call them, which I thought was regular and normal, then I got a female I brought with dark grey legs and was worried at first until I figured out it was just genetics. Same with chickens, some have legs that look like they are made from carrots, while some have cream, grey or even black legs.

My silkies are meant to have black legs, but I have some that hatch with pink and sometimes orange toes, and some even missing the forked back toes.